Okay, so I mentioned in a recent post that I recently discovered Pinterest. I was a skeptic at first, and ignored several people’s recommendations to try it, but soon gave in and am glad I did. I’m amazed at the wealth of ideas and resources for grabs in one convenient place, and how easy it is to “pin” ideas of your own.

Today we are being affected by Tropical Storm Lee, and the entire day here has been a deluge. We are grateful for the rain, as we just came out of our driest month in history, and it gave me a great opportunity to try some of the ideas I’ve pinned to my Things to Try board with the kids. I’ve tried five or six different ideas posted to this board and have had mixed, though mostly positive, results. So, I thought I’d mention a few of the successes here.

One benefit I’ve already gained from the ideas I’ve found on Pinterest is that I’ve learned a list of essential rainy day ingredients to have on hand, listed here:

Rainy Day Essentials:

Glue, lots of it

Borax (available in the clothes detergent isle, with the fabric softeners and dryer sheets, usually)

Corn Starch

Water

food coloring (very important because white finger paint is not very exciting)

vinegar

And, the best thing about all these ingredients is that they are made from safe, non-toxic, household ingredients and the results don’t require batteries or electricity! As well, there is science at work here, so it’s an educational process to make things from these combinations of household ingredients.If you keep these ingredients always on hand, you won’t be disappointed!

Here’s a few of the things we’ve tried so far!

Homemade finger paints

Recipe found here. The only thing I’d add to her instructions are not to overcook. The first batch I made got ruined because I turned the stove on medium-low and then walked away; naturally, I forgot all about it and when I came back, it was a tough consistency. My second batch worked better when I set the stove on very low, and stirred occasionally until the consistency was thick, but not gooey. Then, I took it off the stove immediately and left it to cool for a while. As I speak, my boys are creating their finger paint masterpieces, shirtless, of course, so as not to stain their clothes, because I don’t think food coloring is washable. As a matter of fact, our finger paint kind of stained their fingers, but I’m guessing there are food coloring alternatives out there that work a little better than what I keep on hand for making cake icing…

Homemade slime!

Recipe found here. What could be more fitting for five boys than homemade slime?! We are on day five of this stuff and have not been disappointed. We’ve kept it in airtight containers and all five of my boys keep coming back to it. The only amendment that I’d make to her recipe is that we used 2/3 cup of water, rather than 1 1/2 cups. Our first batch using the recommended amount of water was too watery and never solidified. When we reduced the water, it was just right. (Did I mention that this stuff is educational?!)

Homemade lava lamps!

Recipe here. The second we dropped the Alka Seltzer into this oil/water combination, my kitchen was a chorus of “whoas” followed by one boy who said, “How do people come up with this stuff!!” We went through one box of alka seltzer already, now the lava lamps will have to be stored until we can buy some more, because my boys are far from done with this science experiment! But, beware, it calls for a lot of vegetable oil, and ingredient that I find to be costly. I cringed a bit when pouring all this vegetable oil out, but decided for a once-in-a-while treat, it was worth it; and it’ll keep forever as far as I can tell, so we can keep coming back to it if we want to store it…

There are still some things left in my Things to Try Pinterest board that I haven’t tried, and I have the feeling the list will keep growing. I’ll be sure to keep you updated on my future successes!

I now realize I have only scratched the surface of getting to know you, Rach! WOW! This is so cool! You are amazing…I already knew that…but now you’ve gone further up on the amazing scale!!! Can’t wait to try the donuts and some of these rainy day activities…WITH YOU!!! 🙂